May The Force of Low Blood Sugars Be With You

Because I was on holidays, because the fridge was empty and because I’d been wanting one for several weeks, I had a Subway footlong Italian BMT sub for lunch last Wednesday. I dialled up 18 units of insulin, and I was rather pleased with the way the results were tracking in the hours that followed. I was 14.1 at 2.18pm, 8.7 at 3.09pm, 5.7 at 4.04pm and 7.6 at 5.15pm.

At the time of that last test result, I was getting ready to go and see Star Wars. Still feeling full from that Subway, I figured that I would skip dinner (sorry, Mum!). I gave my Lantus dose an hour and a half earlier than normal, and headed out the door. I parked the car at 5.59pm, and a quick test showed I was 5.1. I knew straight away that I was on a downward trend. Definitely a combination of overlapping Lantus doses and skipping dinner that night. Which I should have anticipated, given this just happened a few weeks ago.

We walked in, bought our tickets, and went to sit down in the theatre. I knew that I was hypo, and that I would need some sugar to last me through the movie. For a lack of personal space in the theatre (brother on my left, stranger on the right), I decided to go and test outside. I leaned over to my brother and asked him for my ticket.

A quick test outside the theatre confirmed that I was a borderline hypo 4.0. I headed over to the candy bar, where thankfully, the line was empty.

“Do you have any juice in the fridge?” I asked the attendant, squinting at the drinks fridge behind the counter. I returned to the theatre with a very overpriced bottle of orange juice, noting the 34g of carbs on the label.

I sat back in my seat, reluctant for a few moments to open that bottle of juice in front of the two people I was with who I hadn’t brought anything for. I decided I could excuse myself later, and skulled two thirds of the bottle.

Thankfully the guy on my right had moved down 2 seats, giving me some personal space to test again 15 minutes later. By this point, it was dark. I was relying on the bright scenes on screen in order to see what I was doing. My meter backlight told me I was 2.9, and I quickly skulled the rest of my juice.

Another 15 minutes later I was 7.4, and at last I could finally focus on the movie.

While the force of low blood sugar levels were with me that night, I was pretty proud of how I handled the situation. One year ago, I would have sat that hypo out in the theatre until I truly felt those low symptoms coming on.

Today, I have the confidence to attend to a hypo in public right away.